Day to Day Living on the Ship
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You might be wondering what like life is like on the ship. The ship has many amenities that you would have at home. Most of the state rooms house two people, although there is a room which is shared by four. Pairs of state rooms share a common bathroom called the head. The bathrooms include a toilet & shower. In each stateroom there is a sink and the beds are arranged in bunks. There is a little curtain that you can pull closed for privacy in case you want to sleep and your roommate is still awake. (Most of the scientists are on the same schedule, however there are a few of them that are on a different time schedule.) The scientists that collect data with the CTD device & acoustics sometimes have an opposite schedule so they are up when we are sleeping and they are sleeping while we are processing data.
My Stateroom
There is a dining space (called the mess) that also serves as a common area when meals are over. There is a television where we can watch satellite tv, read or do work on our computers. (Right now as I am writing this everyone has finished eating dinner and they are watching Myth Busters.) There is a washing machine & dryer on board to do laundry so everyone did not have to pack clothes for two entire weeks. The ship has a device on board so that it can make fresh water for everyone to use for washing, drinking and cooking.
The two common areas
Chef Alex preparing a meal
Chef Alex prepares the meals at set times 6:00 am, 12 noon and 6:00 pm. If we are working we will break for the meal. If it is an off time some people will choose to skip eating to get some extra sleep. I have enjoyed the food very much after I got my “sea legs.” The first day and half I had trouble keeping things down and I was really wondering what I had gotten myself into with this trip and if I was going to survive ship life.) All of the food waste that we create is dumped overboard and the recyclable and trash are stored until we reach land for disposal.
Trash Storage
Everything on board has to be adapted for boat life. When the chef is cooking he has special equipment to keep the pots from sliding off of the stove top. Most doors have a hook that keeps them open so that it does not keep swinging open. The shower and other areas have a bar on the wall if you need to grab it to hold on to something. Several of the doorways are set up to be waterproof in case of emergency. So that is a little run down on our home away from home!
Teacher At Sea,
Christia Hewlett